shall violently force them from him, and all his other riches together with them: Ver. 16. He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him.] Which shall prove as great and as deadly a torture to him, as if, when he squeezed the poor, he had sucked the poison of asps, or been bitten with a viper. Ver. 17. He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.] This shall be his portion, instead of the pleasures of nature and art, which he flattered himself would flow in several streams to him perpetually. Ver. 18. That which he laboured for shall be restore, and shall not swallow it down; according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall rejoice therein.] He may endeavour again with new labour to repair his broken fortune; but it shall be in vain: though he should get as much riches as he had before his change, he shall have no joy in them. Ver. 19. Because he hath oppressed, and hath forsaken the poor; because he bath violently taken away an house which he builded not:] When he hath with new oppressions grinded the poor, and left them destitute, when he hath violently seized on a house, he shall not be able to build it. Ver. 20. Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.] When he hath turned, as we say, every stone, and been as restless as a woman in travail; all his pains shall bring forth nothing of that which he desired. Ver. 21. There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.] He shall have no more left him to eat than he was wont to leave to others, which shall put him out of all hope of mending his condition. Ver. 22. In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.] The greater fulness you can suppose him to regain of worldly goods, the more he shall be distressed; for the hand of every man whom he hath afflicted shall lay hold on him to demand satisfaction. Ver. 23. When he is about to fill his belly, GOD shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shalt rain it upon him while he is eating.] God himself also shall disturb him in his enjoyments, with the sorest effects of his divine vengeance, which shall come pouring down from heaven, when he thinks himself most se cure. Ver. 24. He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.] He shall run from a lesser danger to fall into a greater; as if one, avoiding the weapon in a man's hand, should be shot through with a bow of steel. Ver. 25. It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glistering sword cometh out of his gall; terrors are upon him. And though he should draw the shaft out of his body, and the wound in his bowels should be healed, he shall not escape so, for terrors shall perpetually accompany him. Ver. 26. All darkness shall be hid in his secret places; a fire not blown shail consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.] Nothing but dread ful dangers shall wait for him in those places where he hoped for safety: a fire not kindled by man shall devour him, and the same pestilence or burning fever shall take hold of the rest of his family. Ver. 27. The heaven shall reveal his iniquity: and the earth shall rise up against him.] The heaven by thunder, lightning, or tempests, shall declare itself his enemy; and the earth, by wild beas's or serpents, or some other way, shall make war against him. Ver. 28. The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.] His whole revenue shall melt away as waters poured out, in the day when God intends to punish him. Ver. 29. This is the portion of a wicked man from GOD, and the heritage appointed unto him by GOD.] This is the portion which God the righteous Judge will allot to the wicked: thus will the Almighty reward his blasphemies, or his other proud and insolent words. CHAP. XXI. THE ARGUMENT.-To bring the dispute to a speedier issue, Job (after a short preface, reproving their incivility) comes close to the business; and doth not content himself merely with denying what they had said, but shews them where the fallacy in their discourse lay; viz. in concluding an universal from some particulars. For he maintains from as good history and observations as they could produce, that though God do not make some wicked men such examples of his vengeance as they had said, yet he lets others, and they of the vilest sort, Atheists and deriders of Divine Providence, live prosperously, and die peaceably, and have stately monuments built to perpetuate their memory. In brief, he shews there is a great variety in God's proceedings about the punishment of the wicked; which makes them so bold as they are in their impiety: And seems to have respect to the history of Ishmael, who was a wild or barbarous man, grasping at all he could lay his hands on, and persecuting Isaac: and yet had twelve princes descended from him, settled in their several fortresses, as we read, Gen. xvi. 12. xvii. 20. xxv. 16.: And it is possible, to the history of Eliphaz his own country: Esau his ancestor being very rich, (Gen. xxxvi. 6. 7.), and having many dukes whose posterity afterward advanced themselves to the title of kings, that sprang from him, before there was any king over the children of Israel, Gen. xxxvi. 15. 31. BUT Job answered, and said,] But Job, Ver. 1. Ver. 2. Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations.] Let me prevail with you to attend better than you have done hitherto to my discourse : do me this kindness, and it shall serve instead of all the consclations I promised myself from you.. Ver. 3. Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.] Hear me patiently, and do not so hastily interrupt me, as Zophar just now did, (xx. 2.), who, after I have done, may begin, if he please, to deride me again. Ver. 4. As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?] Have I not all this while made my appeal to God? why then do you interrupt me, and take upon you to pronounce that sentence which I expect from him alone? But if my complaint had been to you, yet, seeing there is just cause for it, can I chuse but be vexed to see you will not hear me patiently? Ver. 5. Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.] Consider well my misery; and, being astonished at the greatness of it, and of your rudeness, be so civil now as to impose silence on yourselves, while I am speaking to you. Ver. 6. Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh bold of my flesh.] I am sure I myself am astonished at the very remembrance of it: were I free from it, yet the thought of what is past makes every joint of my body tremble. Ver. 7. Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?] Let me therefore again desire you to answer me this question more leisurely; if what you have said be true, how come we to see so many wicked men, not only enjoy all the good things of this life, but grow old in their enjoyment, and want no honour or power to which riches can advance them? Ver. 8. Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.] Nay, live to see their children settled in the world; yea, their childrens' children grow up like young plants before their eyes. Ver. 9. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of GOD upon them.] There is nobody disturbs their tranquillity in any of their habitations; nor doth God inflict any punishment on them for their sins: Ver. 10. Their bull gendereth and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf] But extends his care even to their herds of cattle; where the kine never fail to conceive, and in due time bring forth their calves, and do not miscarry. Ver. 11. They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.] And so do their flocks of sheep, with whom their wives may be compared ; who bring forth their little ones as easily and as numerously; and their children dance about their houses, like the little lambs which skip about their fields. Ver. 12. They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.] They lift up their voice, and sing to the timbrel and harp; they dance for joy at the sound of the pipe. Ver. er. 13. They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.] In a word, they prolong their days to a great old age, in all manner of pleasure, and then do not lie long languishing on a bed of sickness or Ver. 14. Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.] And yet these are the men that never think of God; or, if they do, presently bid those thoughts be gone, for they desire to have nothing to do with him or with his laws. Ver. 15. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have if we pray unto him?] They know no such being, they say, as the Almighty, nor do they owe him any service; and if they should worship and serve him, they do not believe they shall be a whit the better for it. Ver. 16. La, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me ] Do not imagine that I am of their opinion; I know very well that they cannot make themselves rich and prosperous without God; and therefore, far be it from me to join with them in their impiety. Ver. 17. How oft is the candle of the wicked put out ? and bow oft cometh their destruction upon them? GOD distributeth sorrow in his anger.] But yet, I say, how oft is it that we see the joy of these wicked men extinguished? Sometimes indeed God takes a speedy vengeance on them, but it is not his usual course to destroy them, and to give them such plagues and torments (as you speak of) for their portion. Ver. 18. They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.] We do not see them, so frequently as you say, driven away like stubble before the wind, and all their estates scattered like the chaff which is blown away with a storm. Ver. 19. GOD layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.] And when doth God punish the iniquity of the wicked in his children, (as you pretend he always doth, xx. 10.), and that while he lives and beholds it himself? Ver. 20. His eyes shall see bis destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.] It is not such a common thing as you make it, for him to see his own ruin, and to feel the effects of the dreadful wrath of the Almighty. Ver. 21. For what pleasure hath be in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst ?] As for what befals his children when he is dead, he concerns not himself; it is nothing to him though they be cut off in their most flourishing Ver. 22. Shall any teach GOD knowledge? seeing be judgeth those that are high.] Shall we be so bold as to instruct God how to govern the world? and tell him he is not just, unless he punish the wicked when we expect it? He judges the highest beings, and therefore knows sure how to govern us; Ver. 23. One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.] Who must not think to tie him to our rules. For one man dies in the highest and firmest worldly profperity, meeting with nothing all bis days to disturb his quiet and tranquillity. Ver. 24. His breasts are full of milk, and bis bones are moistened with marrow.] Health as well as riches accompany him to the grave; his ribs are fat, and his bones full of marrow, even in his old age: Ver. 25. And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.] When another man (who perhaps is better than he) dies in great pain and anguish, after a miserable life, in which he never enjoyed any pleasure. Ver. 26. They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.] They shall both alike have the dust for their bed, and worms for their covering; and no distinction that we can see be made between them. Ver. 27. Behold I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.] I am sensible that in all this I very much contradict your thoughts, which are as well known to me as to yourselves: I see by what arguments you are studying to oppress me. Ver. 28. For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling-places of the wicked?] I hear you say within yourselves, What is become of the house of Job, who lived like a prince? what difference is there between him and those wicked men, whose dwelling-places are destroyed? Ver. 29. Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens ?] But let me answer you; or rather go and ask the first passenger you meet with, (for it is a thing vulgarly known), and they are not interested in our disputes, let them tell you their observations about God's providence: Ver. 30. That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction; they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.] Which all agree in this, that the wicked is spared very often in a common calamity; though it be very general, as well as terrible, yet many of them escape it. Ver. 31. Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?] Which makes the wicked so bold, that none dare reprove him: much less is he in danger of being punished for his offences, since God spares him, and man dreads him. Ver. 32. Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and sball remain in the tomb.] The pomp of his funeral is answerable to the splendour wherein he lived; and a stately monument is raised to preserve his memory, and represent him as if he were still living. Ver. 33. The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto Lim; and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.] There he lies quietly in the earth, and none disturbs his ashes; he suffers nothing but what all men shall do after him, as innumerable have done before him. Ver. 34. How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?] See then how you discharge the office of comforters, whose anfwers have so little truth in them. For you maintain that prosperity is the inseparable companion of piety, when every body can tell you, that none flourisheth more than the wicked, and that calamities are common to all mankind. VOL. III. E CHAP. XXII. THE ARGUMENT.-Though Job had clearly stated thecontroversy in the foregoing chapter, yet Eliphaz would not yield, but begins the combat a third time, without any ground at all, but a pure mistake, as I have expressed it in the first verse. And to avoid the reproof, which had been given him, of repeating merely the same things, he now brings in a catalogue, though without any proof, (so much was his anger and bitterness increased), of the particular sins, both against God and against his neighbour, of which he supposes Job to have been guilty. Else, he still boldly concludes, God would not have punished him with such severity; that there was not a greater instance of his indignation to be found any where, unless it was in the old world, and in Sodom. Yet he hath so much moderation, that he invites him at last to repentance, and promises him the happy fruit of it, as he had done in his first speech, but not in his second. Nay, he tells him in conclusion, for his etcouragement, that he should be able to do as much for a nation as ten righteous men, could they have been found there, might have done for Sodom. Ver. 1. THEN Flipbax the Temanite answered and said,] Then Eliphaz, not being able to deny all this, and yet not minding the scope of it, (but imagining Job had accused the Divine Providence of injustice, in suffering the wicked to prosper, and the righteous to be afflicted), grew very angry, and said, Ver. 2. Can a man be profitable unto GOD, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?] Is God ever the better for any thing that we do? because a wise man receives great benefit by his virtue, shall we think that God is a gainer by it too, and that he is bound to reward it? Ver. 3. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?] Doth he who needs nothing, (being possessor of all things), desire thou shouldst be righteous for his own advantage? or will it turn to his profit, if thou livest never so unblameably? Ver. 4. Will be reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgement ] Or, on the contrary, is he afraid that thou shouldst hurt him by thy sins, and will therefore punish them? Is this the reason that he now afflicts thee, to prevent the damage they might do him? Ver. 5. Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite 2] Are not rather thy sins against God and against men so great and so numberless, that no other cause is to be sought of thy sore and multiplied punishments? Ver. 6. For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their cloathing.] For, (to begin with those against man), thou hast 1 been a tyrant, and exacted pawns of thine own kindred for little or nothing; and hast stript even those of their garments, who had no more but just to cover their nakedness. Ver. 7. Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast with-hoklen bread from the hungry.] Thou hast been hard-hearted to the weary traveller, when thou sawest him ready to die with thirst or with hunger. Ver. 8. But as for the mighty man, he had the earth, and the honourable man dwelt in it.] But as for the great and the powerful, all thy estate was at his service; if he brought the title to any land in question, he was sure to carry the cause by thy favour to him : Ver. 9. Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.] When, at the same time, the poor widow and orphans (whose protection God hath in a special manner commended to us) could not obtain the favour of having justice done them; but were crushed and broken by thee, and had all the means of defending themselves taken from them. Ver. 10. Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee:] Thou art guilty, sure enough, of some such sins as these, which are the cause that now thou art beset with these calamities, and most dreadful plagues have on a sudden confounded thee. Ver. 11. Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.] O thy blindness! dost thou not yet see how God hath proportioned thy punishment to his crimes? hath the depth of the afflic tions wherein thou art plunged, quite taken away all sense from thee? > Ver. 12. Is not GOD in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are :] Is not God above the heavens? behold, he is the head and governor of the stars, although they be so high; and therefore, how shouldst thou think to escape his justice? Ver. 13. And thou sayest, How doth GOD know? can be judge through the dark cloud?] But perhaps thou fanciest (such is thy impiety against him, as well as cruelty to thy neighbour) that, because he is high, he minds not what is done here below; or that he cannot discern the difference of things so very remote, through such a mist as is between us. Ver. 14. Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.] He is wrapt, thou imaginest, in such thick clouds, that they obscure us from his sight: or he is confined to the heavens, and so busied in their affairs, that he hath no leisure to attend to our's. Ver. 15. Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden 2] But didst thou never observe, or hast thou forgotten, the course of the old atheistical world, who ran licentiously into all manner of wickedness? Ver. 16. Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood.] To whom God therefore put a stop, by destroying them before their time, and carrying them quite away with the flood, when they thought themselves firmly settled in the earth; Ver. 17. Which said unto GOD, Depart from us and what can the Almighty do for them?] Ard were saying, (as thou wouldest have us believe the wicked now do, and yet prosper, xxi. 14.), We have nothing to do with God, nor he with us. Dost thou remember what God then did to them, for their horrid ingratitude to him? Ver. 18. Yet he filled their houses with good things; but the counsel of the wick.d is far from me.] Who hath filled their houses with all manner of good things: O vile wretches! whose wicked thoughts I abhor as much as thou thyself, (xxi. 16.) Ver. 19. The righteous see it, and are glad: and the innocent laugh them to scorn.] Whose overthrow, Noah and his family beholding, rejoiced in God's righteous judgement; that innocent man derided their incredulity. Ver. 20. Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth.] Wherets we, who believe God's care and providence, are untouched in our estates; when the reliques of those impious men are devoured by fire from hea ven. Ver. 21. A quaint now thyself with him, and be at peace thereby good shall come unto thee.] Let me advise thee, therefore, (whom God hath not yet quite consumed), to join thyself to the society of the righteous, and to become like Noah: then be secure, and doubt not but by that means all happiness shall return to thee. Ver. 22. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.] Do not refuse. the instruction which such men give thee from God; but heartily embrace it, and faithfully preserve it to be the rule of thy life. Ver. 23. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up: thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.] Thou shalt soon feel the comfortable fruits of it; for if thou' return to the Almighty, who. hath laid thee thus low, he will return to thee, and raise thee up as high as ever: he will pardon thine iniquity, and remove the punishment of it far from thee and thine. Ver. 24. Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.] Thou shalt recover all thy losses with usury; and no more. value gold than the dirt on which it shall lie, nor the purest gold more than the pebbles in the brook. Ver. 25. Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver.] Thou shalt be at no pains to secure thy vast heaps of gold and silver; because thy Almighty Restorer, who gave them to thee, will defend them better than the strongest fortress, and be himself thy treasure. Ver. 26. For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto GOD.] For then thou shalt be so far from doubting of his care over thee, that thou shalt delight to think how. Ver. 29. When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up: and he shall save the humble person.] Thou shalt pray to God also to lift up others, who are in a low condition; and he shall grant thy petitions, by delivering him that is depressed. Ver. 30. He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thy hands.] Yea, a whole country shall owe its safety to thy innocence: it shall be delivered by thy pious prayers and blameless actions. CHAP. XXIII. THE ARGUMENT.-To the foregoing discourse of Eliphaz, Job thought at first to make no answer, but only by complaints of their injustice, and fresh appeals to God: by whom he desires, more earnestly than ever, to be tried; being assured that he would acquit him. And though for the present God was not pleased to give him audience, (of which he complains with too much passion), yet he maintains that hope, which began to appear in his soul, (in his last discourse with Bildad, chap. xix.), that God would at last clear him from all the aspersions which were cast upon him. Ver. 1. THEN Job answered and said,] Then Job, hearing his person thus defamed, and his discourse perverted, renewed his complaints, and said, Ver. 2. Even to this day is my complaint bitter my stroke is heavier than my groaning.] Still my just defence of myself is judged to be rebellion against God: which renders my sufferings heavier than all my sighs and groans can express: Ver. 3. Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his scat!] And makes me once more appeal to God, and wish I could be admitted into his presence, (so free from the conscience of any guilt), and approach even to his judgement seat. Ver. 4. 1 would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.] I would set before him the justice of my cause, and fill my mouth with confutations of your false accusations. Ver. 5. I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me. I would press to know his judgement of me, and diligently attend to the sentence which he would pass upon me. Ver. 6. Will be plead against me with his great power? No, but he would put strength in me.] Do you think he would make no other use of his absolute power, than to oppress me? I cannot believe it; he would rather employ it to support me. Ver. 7. There the righteous might dispute with him : so should I be delivered for ever from my Fudge.] Till at his bar I had proved myself a righteous person, and been perfectly acquitted by him my righteous Judge. Ver. 8. Behold I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him :] But all these, alas! are vain wishes; for which way soever I turn myself, whether to the east or to the west, I cannot see him appear to do me right. Ver. 9. On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him he bideth himself on the right band, that I cannot see him.] He works and moves invisibly in all other quarters of the world; but I can discover nothing he does to clear my innocence. Ver. 10. But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.] My only comfort is, that though I cannot know all his ways, yet he, being every where, knows the whole course of his life; and when he hath proved me by these afflictions, as gold is by the fire, I doubt not, I shall be cleared from these imputations which you lay upon me. Ver. 11. My foot bath held his steps; his way have I kept, and not declined. I am sure I have ever followed his guidance, and so stedfastly observed his commandments, that no temptation hath made me swerve from them. Ver. 12. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.] I have prevented the advice you gave me, (xxii. 22.), having never done otherwise than he bid me, and laid up his words more carefully than my necessary provision for this life. Ver. 13. But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doth.] But for the present, this doth not at all move him to relieve me: he continues his purpose, (whatever it be), and none can alter it, no more than they can hinder the fulfilling of it. Ver. 14. For be performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.] For what he hath resolved to inflict upon me, that I find he will accomplish and many such things as these he doth, of which he will not give us the rea son. Ver. 15. Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.] This terrifies me, when I reflect upon it, notwithstanding my innocence : I tremble at the thoughts of his absolute power and unsearchable wisdom, which may think fit still to continue these afflictions: |